Gibraltar ‘will never’ accept Spanish guards

GIBRALTAR will never accept Spanish border guards on its territory, its first minister told MPS yesterday.

Fabian Picardo said that Gibraltar could accept guards from Frontex, the EU’S border and coast guard agency, instead.

Gibraltarian officials want a bespoke deal to preserve de facto freedom of movement over the border with Spain, which has become more difficult since Brexit. While the Rock is dependent on Spanish labour, it is also a major employer for the Spanish region of Andalusia.

Negotiations over a Brexit deal for Gibraltar resume next week with hopes building that an agreement could be struck by Christmas.

Mr Picardo told the European scrutiny committee of MPS that Gibraltar would never accept Spanish boots on Gibraltarian territory.

But he said that Frontex staff could check the passports of travellers entering Gibraltar’s airport so they could cross into Spanish territory with a min- imum of fuss.

“Gibraltar will never accept that there should be Spanish law enforcement agents present in Gibraltar. We have been very clear about that.

“That is not going to change but we believe that with an independent agency such as Frontex … able to provide that immigration control, which would then relieve people of the need to have immigration control at the frontier, we believe that would be advantageous.”